"Unfortunately the last 18 months have been a real challenge for me having breast cancer and MS and all the new places that will take you," she wrote.

"You become sadly a patient in a world of waiting rooms, waiting sometimes hours for a result or an appointment.

"You spend a lot time in cold machines... hospital beds, on your knees praying for miracles, operating rooms, tests after tests, looking at healthy people skip down the street like you once did and you took it all for granted and now wish you could do that.

"I have not stopped singing throughout all this in my dreams and to be once again performing and doing what I love to do."

"It's about both of those sides, our higher self and our lower self and our sexuality and everything."

Drayton says Amphlett hoped the song would also inspire women to a more serious task.

"Chrissy expressed hope that her worldwide hit I Touch Myself would remind women to perform annual breast examinations," he said in a statement.

"Chrissy was a true pioneer and a treasure to all whose lives her music and spirit touched."

Former partner and guitarist McEntee says Amphlett was an exceptional talent.

"Chrissy had a lot of the gusto, and the raw, the raw talent, and the ability to come up with something original and different," he said.

The Divinyls, also known for Boys in Town, Pleasure and Pain and Science Fiction, were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006.

"It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of the beloved Chrissy Amphlett, a true pioneer and inspiration to a generation of Australian musicians and music fans," ARIA said in a statement.